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April 27, 2007

G22: Red Sox 11, Yankees 4

I agree with Jerry Remy. I can't wait to read the New York papers tomorrow morning. (box)

Once again, Matsuzaka had a one really rough inning, but battled through it and did not let it affect him afterwards. Through the first three frames, he had allowed two singles and a walk on 42 pitches. He had a 2-0 lead (thanks to a two-run HR by Youkilis), but he walked the first three Yankees to begin the fourth (though a called third strike should have been called on leadoff batter Alex Rodriguez). All three of those runners scored, as did a fourth baserunner. Dice-K threw 41 pitches to nine batters in the inning.

Down 4-2, Boston stormed right back against Pettitte. With one out, Lugo walked and stole second (he finished with a fantastic night: single, double, home run, stolen base, 2 walks, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored). Youkilis and Ortiz both singled, cutting the lead to 4-3. After Drew struck out, Lowell walked to force in the tying run and a wild pitch scored Ortiz, giving Boston a 5-4 lead.

After the long fourth, Dice shed his long sleeves and retired the side in both the fifth (Rodriguez K, Giambi 6-3, Matsui F8) and sixth (Posada 3U, Cano K, Mientkiewicz 3U) innings.

The Sox added a run in the sixth on Lugo's solo home run (which he initially thought was a single off the left field wall), a run in the eighth on doubles from Pedroia and Lugo, and four runs in the ninth off Mariano Rivera.

Rivera had not pitched since Monday and came into the game with his team trailing 7-4. He quickly dispatched Drew on strikes, but surrendered singles to Lowell (13-game hitting streak!), Varitek and Crisp. Then he walked Pedroia and was pulled. His ERA rose from 7.11 to 12.15.

Mike Myers walked Lugo to force in a run, Youkilis's grounder scored another one, and Ortiz knocked home run #11 with an opposite field slice to left.

Boston improves its MLB-best record to 15-7. Toronto and Baltimote both lost, so we lead the Jays by 4 and the Orioles by 4.5. New York has lost seven games in a row and, at 8-13, is 6.5 games out of first place.

The Yankees have lost six in a row and are in the AL East basement. They have also pulled Kei Igawa from the rotation and will go with Jeff Karstens and his 14.54 ERA on Saturday afternoon.

Johnny Damon: "There's going to be panic soon if the winning doesn't start." ... New York starters are averaging 4.9 innings per appearance, worst in the majors.

Bob Klapisch, ESPN: "The manager's decision to use Rivera in the eighth inning last Friday at Fenway also stunned observers. "Five outs? In April?" one executive asked incredulously." ... Four Yankee relievers are on a pace to appear in more than 100 games.

David Ortiz is 53-for-163 (.325), with 14 homers and 26 RBIs in the Bronx.

Matsuzaka will be fine. I don't understand his sudden loss of command he suffers at times, but the key is that he doesn't get rattled. I'm psyched about the rest of the season with this guy -- not to mention the five years to follow.

What is the best thing about tonight? Was is that we won pretty easily, as you can do any given night? Or was it that Rivera, far from just blowing a save as anyone can do (and as he did in April a couple of times last year), actually looked uncertain out there in his just-get-him-some-work role? I thought last year he might be losing a step, and was proven wrong. But given is 12.15 ERA so far, we have to think he might have indeed lost something.

I'm not sure what it would take to make me not fear the Yankees -- a lot more than just another bad April -- but I have to say there's a tenor to tonight's game that speaks of something a little more than just a slow start. And Rivera's the key, that and their lack of options. They may get Clemens if he's not scared away by their slow start, but I don't see him as totally lights out in the AL at this point. A good pitcher still, sure, but not a savior.

I don't want to slip into exuberance because I'm sure the Yanks will be back. But you'd have to be half-dead not to be an excited Red Sox fan right now. Two out of three in the Bronx would be almost...decisive?

That's what Remy kept saying. Lugo did stumble around the bag, but he also turned and retreated back to first in the manner we've seen players who hit singles do 10,000 times before. Then Lugo looked at Alicea, turned and started trotting.

Today's on-line edition of the NY Times (Pravda for Pinstripers) was resplendent with all sorts of whining and hand-wringing, especially from the principle architect of last night's cluster, Pettite (aka, Clemens' Cabana Boy).

However, experience is a powerful teacher, and if the Sox don't keep the cleat on the throat (nice visual from the CHB in his column this morning), this is one club that has shown the maddening propensity to claw their way back.

Torre is and has always been a voice of calm and reason among the maelstrom that is the NY media, with a steady hand on the rudder that has guided his charges through many a challenging time.

However, with the starting pitching in tatters (MFY starters haven't made it out of the 5th in 11 out of 21 starts) and Rivera's form resembling more Chita than Mo (12.80 ERA), one can only hope that this run becomes the kind of long, slow death spiral that even the vaunted Torre can't pull the team out of.

Farrell concurred with redsock's observation that Matzusaka got squeezed on the called S3 to Slappy ("shifting strike zone"), a pitch which Schilling, Maddux, or Halladay would have had in a heartbeat.

Impressive how the kid stayed stoic in his post-game comments, which hopefully will start to earn him the kind of cred that gets him these calls over the course of a few more starts.